


No One’s Property

by Reyka_Sivao



Category: Star Trek, Star Trek: The Original Series
Genre: Audio Content, Episode: s02e05 Amok Time, Forced Marriage, Freedom, Gen, Pon Farr, Sexism, Vulcan Culture
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-18
Updated: 2020-11-18
Packaged: 2021-03-10 02:21:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 410
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27616169
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Reyka_Sivao/pseuds/Reyka_Sivao
Summary: A monologue from T’Pring’s point of view.(Text and audio/video link)
Comments: 5
Kudos: 13





	No One’s Property

[YouTube link: No One’s Property](https://youtu.be/TO5MviPvJEc)

* * *

  
I am no one’s property. 

She asked. 

She asked, but what could I answer?

To become one’s property, or to submit. 

I could not submit. I can not submit. 

It is bile in my throat, to think that I should be assumed a passive vessel for the benefit of a man chosen for me when I was but a child. 

I was a child. 

He too was a child. 

And you chose to bind us together? And not only to bind us, but to bind us without recourse?

With no recourse but one. And therefore I chose that one. 

You say, you say that I must choose: to submit to the one chosen for me, or to choose the one I must submit to. 

It is a bitter choice. 

But if you offer me the smallest sliver of freedom, do you think I will not take it? I will take it like water when I am dying. 

I chose Stonn. 

But did I choose him? Or did I choose myself?

According to the rules of the marriage ceremony, I was allowed to choose one other, only one. That one would be the one who owned me, should he win. Should he lose, I would forever belong to the one chosen for me. 

That was to be my choice. 

But then. 

But then he brought others. Humans. And a new choice presented itself. 

What if I made exactly the wrong choice? What if did the thing that was allowed because it had never been forbidden?

I could choose one other, they said. They did not say who. 

I teetered on the knife edge of indecision—to go with the plan I had so carefully made, or to take a risk?

He was human. My intended would most certainly win. 

I chose the friend. 

Perhaps I was a fool. Perhaps I would gain nothing. He would win, and I would lose. 

But perhaps 

Perhaps 

If I involved a human, perhaps the federation would ask questions. Perhaps Vulcan’s secrets would be brought to light. Perhaps there would be a chance, however slim, for change. 

So not only for myself, but for every sister and daughter of Vulcan, I stood and I made my choice. 

This one. 

She asked. 

She asked, but what could I answer?

The property of the victor, she said. 

But when the sand had settled, 

was he truly the victor?

I am no one’s property. 


End file.
